


A Tale Of Dreamers and Realists

by natigail



Series: A Tale Of The Elemental Sides [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, Elemental Magic, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Homophobia, M/M, Magic, Magical Realism, Ocean, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Points of View, Suicidal Thoughts, The first two chapters will be angst and then the last two will be fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-06-23 11:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15605487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natigail/pseuds/natigail
Summary: *Read the first work in the series first*The dust had finally settled for Virgil, Patton, Logan and Roman but that did not mean that everything would be okay just yet. In the past two weeks, they had already formed unbreakable friendships but insecurities and worries had not just disappeared. And there might be more than friendship brewing between some of them.---“There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You'd think the dreamers would find the dreamers, and the realists would find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true. See, the dreamers need the realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun. And the realists? Well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground.”





	1. Ocean and Flames

**Author's Note:**

> Last waning to read [A Tale of Water, Air, Earth and Fire](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12902064) before continuing. I doubt this will make any sense otherwise.

The holidays passed in one big hazy cloud of happiness for Virgil. He was constantly surrounded by his fellow elementals and he was laughing all the time.

It was the complete opposite to the guy who Tom had found sitting next to the water wallowing two weeks prior. When he was surrounded by Patton, Logan and Roman, it was so easy for Virgil to forget that person. He didn’t feel like he could relate to that old mess.

Homeless. Repressed. Anxiety-riddled.

He had found a sense of home and belonging that he had never had before. He knew without a doubt that his fellow elementals cared about him. They had continuously insisted that he was a part of the group and they didn’t blame him for the dark volatile storm that had almost torn everything apart.

Virgil could hardly recognize himself in the storm after a week of staying at Patton’s and having the best time of his life.

But then New Years came and passed and things started to get back to normal.

The old and bad normal that Virgil thought he might have been able to shed off and trap inside of the Orb of Perseverance.

Roman made good on his promise to get him a room at the castle but it was too much. Virgil didn’t feel like he deserved anything this nice. It was too big. The bed was too soft.

He had never had a room of his own like that.

It wasn’t right.

Virgil ended up sleeping on Patton’s couch most of the time. The air elemental was thrilled to have him over but he would catch how Patton sometimes watched him with concern in his eyes.

Roman had been a little offended that Virgil wasn’t using the nice room he had been given.

Virgil hung out with the rescue dogs and Patch in particular. He felt like he had unofficially adopted him. It wasn’t official because Virgil did not feel ready or capable of having a pet but more nights than not, Patton would bring up Patch from the pen downstairs and let him sleep with Virgil on the couch.

Ten days after they had captured the storm into the proclaimed Orb of Perseverance – Virgil was fairly sure that it was just a name that Tom had randomly made up – he dared to take it out from the cupboard and look at it again.

He hadn’t wanted to go near it before.

He had felt so happy to finally have friends for the first time in his life. He had been living on that high but as Logan went back to work, Roman was occupied with prince duties and Patton was busy with his dogs, Virgil felt the gloom creep up on him again.

It was mid-morning and Patton had allowed Patch to stay up in his flat with Virgil. The golden dog was lying on the couch, his head resting on the back of the couch as he watched Virgil approach the cupboard where they had stored the thundercloud.

He recalled his confusion and relief upon originally seeing it.

He had been so happy that it had been trapped. It had been over.

Virgil carefully took the orb in his hands and lifted it closer to his face. It looked exactly the same. A dark and twisting cloud that would let out the occasional burst of thunder.

Roman had taken to fondly calling Virgil thundercloud as a result.

Virgil had liked it at first but as he stared at the thundercloud in the orb now, the thought just made his stomach drop.

The week of bliss was wearing off and he was starting to feel bad again. Getting friends had given him a new sense of purpose but it did not mean that things would automatically be washed away.

He was used to the hopelessness. It had moved in a long time ago and made a home inside his very being.

Friends had come along and demanded all the space at first but now hopelessness was creeping right back in again. It helped when Virgil could spend time with the other elementals but he couldn’t be next to them every moment of his life.

It didn’t work like that.

He would have to be okay being on his own.

He had taught himself to be on his own but he had never been okay with it. He had never been okay with having to beg for money to be able to eat something. He had never been okay with being secluded from society.

He had accepted it was the way it had to be but that did not mean he was okay.

Now he was surrounded by people who told him and showed him that he deserved love and affection and friendship and a home. It was nice but his brain did not seem like it could grasp it.

For so long, it had been telling him that he didn’t deserve anything.

That he was born broken and he would forever be broken.

As the thoughts came rushing back, Virgil hastily shoved the orb back into the cupboard and slammed it shut. He felt that all too familiar turmoil in his chest again.

He grabbed his hoodie and ran outside, rushing past Patton who was talking to some girl who probably wanted to adopt a puppy.

Virgil looked up.

The sky was crisp and blue. There wasn’t a cloud in sight and certainly not a dark one.

“Virgil?” Patton called and appeared in the doorway.

He looked slightly concerned to find Virgil with his head titled back and just staring upwards.

“I’m fine, Patton,” Virgil replied even before Patton asked. “Just needed some fresh air.”

Patton frowned and Virgil forgot that he could pick up on lies. Shit. This was not ideal. He needed to get out of here, away from everyone, just for a bit to sort out his head.

The thoughts could not come back. He could not be the cause of another storm. He wouldn’t allow it.

A voice from deeper in his consciousness told him that he had never escaped the thoughts and they always would be a part of him.

“I’m going off to move water for a bit,” Virgil told Patton.

It wasn’t a lie. He felt the urge and pull within him to use his powers. Maybe it could give him some clarity.

“Okay,” Patton said and smiled, even if his eyes still looked very concerned. “Just be careful, okay? Where are you going? To the stream were we first met?”

They had met about two weeks ago. It seemed like a lifetime instead.

“No, to the ocean,” Virgil replied on impulse.

It wasn’t far away but Virgil didn’t actually go to the ocean a lot. People tended to be on the beach and he had to keep his water abilities hidden before. But now everything was out in the open, so he could go to the ocean if he wanted.

But there was still the other reason that he really shouldn’t go near the ocean.

“Be careful?” Patton repeated.

“Of course,” Virgil replied before he stuffed his hands inside of his hoodie and turned his back.

He wasn’t sure if it came out as a lie or not.

★★★★

Roman had not looked forward to getting back to fulfilling his price duties. He had proclaimed that he would be taking the time between Christmas and New Years off entirely and it had been a wonderful decision.

His parents had allowed it without any fuss. They might have decided not to persecute Roman or his fellow elementals and even thanked them for their assistance in stopping the storm but they were still very apprehensive about the whole talk of magic. It had been banned by Roman’s grandfather after numerous attacks by creatures such a dragonwitches. It was not easy to revert decades of belief and legal systems.

The King and Queen did not want anyone start claiming that Roman wasn’t fit for the throne so they preferred that he had disappeared for a little while as they got some stuff sorted out.

Roman wasn’t sure what stuff it was exactly but he hadn’t wanted to ask. It didn’t sound very promising.

Roman could still recall when he had come out as gay and both of his parents had just stared at him in shellshock before finally his mother breaking the silence and saying that they still loved him.

He believed her.

But he knew that it was a lot to take in.

None of it was ideal.

Firstly, the sole heir was a homosexual man and thus unable to reproduce, unless Roman would have to force himself into a horribly uncomfortable situation. Secondly, he was an elemental who could control fire in a kingdom that had declared war on magic.

It wasn’t a realization that Roman had come up with him himself. It had been Logan pointing it out, in that cold and detached voice of his, during their meeting yesterday, which had been their first day back to work.

Roman knew that Logan didn’t mean anything by it but it had still hurt a little to hear it presented like that.

He wanted to be Prince Charming. He wanted to be everything his people expected of him.

He had just assumed that it wouldn’t be a problem that he was gay or a fire elemental. It was as much a part of him as his courage and creativity. He was the whole package and you couldn’t really detach one element (pun intended) and move forward.

It had been terrifying to know that fighting the storm would reveal his fire abilities to the public and go against the promise he had made to his parents but it had also been indescribably liberating.

Finally, it was out in the open.

Everything was out in the open.

Well, almost. His sexuality was still only knowledge around the castle and a general rumor but it would become publicly confirmed he found his future husband. Once Roman fell in love, he wouldn’t be able to hide it anymore.

He had dreamed of falling in love with a dashing prince or knight when he was younger. He had thought that he would find someone like himself; a man who had been told to repress part of himself and now they could be out and proud together.

Whenever he met a prince or knight, he would always pay attention to them to see if maybe they could be the one for him.

The longing in his heart for a partner to stand by his side burned almost as brightly as the longing to ignite his fire.

It had sent him out adventuring at every opportunity and Roman had been sure that he would find his special man somewhere out there.

Tom had said that Roman was venturing out because the magic in his veins called to be reunited with his fellow elementals.

But Roman couldn’t believe that _that_ would be all. He still hadn’t found his special someone, had he?

“You are not paying attention at all, are you?” Logan asked next to him and nudged his arm.

“No,” Roman grumbled, even if he hadn’t realized just how much he had tuned out.

It wasn’t really his fault.

This meeting was boring as hell. Roman didn’t do meetings but a quick glance at his schedule as he got back to his duties had confirmed that he would be booked up with one meeting or another all week.

It wasn’t fun and Roman had an inkling that it was his parents’ punishing him for breaking the promise to keep his elemental power hidden. He would much rather have faced a proper scolding instead of being hidden away inside boring meeting rooms all day.

He wasn’t made to sit still for this long. It had helped to have Logan by his side at first but the earth elemental actually wanted to listen to the council’s plans for growing a new kind of crop on the west pastures in the spring.

“I will give you my notes afterwards,” Logan whispered. “I’ll make sure to bullet point them or you’ll never even attempt to read them.”

“Rude,” Roman complained and it took all his will power not to slump on the table while the boring official was still giving his mindless speech. “And I can read, you know.”

Logan just hummed and wrote more notes.

Roman started thrumming his fingers against the table in boredom. Why did Logan have to bring him back to the present and away from his imagination where he was dreaming of finding his one?

Roman kept his fingers moving, just making sure to pull back the magic flooding to them. It wouldn’t look very good if he sat the table on fire on his second day back after his beak.

Suddenly, Logan cleared his throat and the speaker abruptly stopped.

“Sorry for interrupting but if you will excuse the Prince and I for just a moment, please?” Logan asked and without waiting for an answer, practically pulled Roman up by his arm and dragged him out of the room.

If it had been anyone other than Logan manhandling him like this, he would have the person thrown in the dungeons for an hour of failing to respect royalty. But Logan wasn’t just any royal advisor.

Just a couple of days ago the two of them had been sharing the last pancake at Patton’s. So Logan had a special privilege and Roman let him get away with it.

He dragged them into the first available empty office space.

“Out with it,” he demanded.

“What?” Roman said and crossed his arms and stepped away from Logan like a deviant child.

“You know what. You are behaving like a brat, Roman.”

“Two weeks ago you wouldn’t have dared to speak to me like that,” Roman commented to avoid having to agree with Logan’s assessment.

“It’s good that things change then. I still respect your title, _Prince_ Roman, but as you said before, we are now friends. I do not allow my friends to behave like posteriors without calling them out on it.”

“I can still throw you in the dungeon, you know,” Roman muttered but Logan would easily be able to tell that the threat wasn’t real.

“Why won’t you just stop deflecting and tell me what is going on?”

“I’m just bored, Logan,” Roman exclaimed and threw his hands up. “My parents has stuck me in all of these closed and unimportant meetings. They have made sure I’m always busy whenever something happens where I could be at a public event.”

“These meetings are not unimportant,” Logan argued. “If you just listened then you would-“

“You just don’t get it, Logan. They are _hiding_ me, okay? They probably didn’t think that I would notice but that’s what they’re doing. They did the same when they found out that I had told my housemaid I was gay, after coming out to them too. For three weeks I was constantly in tutor sessions and it continued until I made a bet with my tutor that she would have to let me go train fencing if I aced my history exam.”

Logan looked a little baffled. It wasn’t something that people would often see but Roman had been privileged to see it more often that most. It was a tender moment whenever the earth elemental looked like that.

“They are ashamed that I’m a fire elemental,” Roman explained. “It was okay when it was just the two of them that knew but we showed the whole kingdom, Logan. Everyone is talking about it.”

“But… they said they would change their stance on magic?” Logan said a little helplessly.

Roman was getting wrapped up in his own stuff and he almost forgot that this affected Logan as well. They were both elementals and they both worked in the castle, even if their job descriptions were rather different.

“And I’m sure they will but they care about appearances. And so do I. Or I did… It was a big part of growing up for me. I would constantly worry about what people thought of me. I was taught to think like that. I have taught myself to care less over the years. Like you said yesterday, it’s understandable that they are confused because it isn’t ideal to have a gay magical sole heir, right?”

“Roman, you must know that I didn’t say that to hurt you,” Logan said.

“I know you didn’t,” Roman said and he felt like he deflated a little. “But it was true, Logan. They don’t know what to do with me.”

“I do not know how to comfort you,” Logan stated and he looked defeated.

Roman cracked a smile. “I know, pal. That’s okay,” he said and swung an arm around Logan’s shoulders. “I will figure it out. I always do. I just have to pretend that things are okay.”

“I’m not sure if I could advise that,” Logan said but Roman didn’t let him say anything more as he dragged them back out in the hall.

Once they emerged, a messenger boy who had been standing outside of the meeting room down the hall immediately ran up to them.

“Prince Roman and Advisor Logan, I was asked to carry a message from Patton. He says that Virgil is not feeling very well and he has gone to the ocean. Patton would leave to check on him but he is tending to his puppies and his assistant isn’t there to take over.”

Roman and Logan frowned at each other.

“That’s all? He doesn’t say what he expects us to do?” Logan asked.

“I did not hear anything about that,” the messenger boy confirmed.

“Logan, buddy, he wants one of us to check on Virgil because he can’t do it himself. Thank you,” Roman said and dismissed the messenger boy. “I think it should be you.”

“If Virgil is experiencing emotional turmoil, I am not sure my reasoning will be any consolation to him. You should go.”

“Me? But you know I always say the wrong thing to him! Even now, we will be laughing one moment and I’ll say something stupid and he’ll just clam right up. I don’t know how to talk to him without making it awkward.”

“Roman, it is a way to get out of the harvest meeting.”

“I’ll go find him,” Roman said immediately.

★★★★

The ocean had always been something special to Virgil.

He had grown up in a village close to the Forest of Fables and most of his experiences with water when he was really young had been the well in his village. One day, he had played with the water in his glass, completely by accident, and his parents had seen.

They had practically chased him out of the village.

Later, when strangers found a child wandering on the streets by himself, he was thrown into the foster system, which was hardly a system at all. He moved around a lot. He tried to always hide his abilities. He had to be in perfect control.

When had been a teenager, it had suddenly all become too much for him and he had run away from the temporary family. He ran until he reached the ocean.

It was the first time he saw the ocean and he had never seen so much water before. As he tried to move it, he had never felt as powerful.

It seemed like there would be no limit to his ability and he could move the whole ocean if he wanted. In hindsight, he was pretty sure that wasn’t possible but he did manage to move a significant part of it.

He had walked towards the water, forcing back the water so he could walk out to the soft sand that was normally underwater. He had walked down his water tunnel and felt almighty. In that moment, nothing had mattered because of the sheer joy he felt at finally allowing himself to reconnect with his element after years with minimal contact.

He could move the ocean.

He had almost drowned in it too.

It was the reason Virgil didn’t visit the ocean a lot anymore. It brought up dark memories but those were already back and swirling around in his head, so he wasn’t sure if he could lose anything more by visiting the beach and the ocean.

It was a frosty day in early January, so no one was on the beach except for him.

He strolled down the length of the ocean and ignored the way the water called out to him. The urge would grow stronger and stronger and as long as Virgil denied it, it would consume most of his brain space and grant him a little peace.

But it could never take all of it.

Much like the first time he had been by the ocean, standing on the seafloor with ten feet of water around him, held back just by his powers, he had felt the anxiety consume him again.

Back then; he had felt the hopelessness for the first time. He was sure no one would miss an unruly and weird foster kid and his parents had already disowned him, so he might as well disappear.

He couldn’t see that things might get better. He was sure he was destined to be alone and he had wondered if it wouldn’t be easier to just die now and spare himself years of added misery.

He had let go of his hold of the water.

Now, he knew that things had gotten better. It had taken years but eventually Tom had fluttered into his life with those purple fairy wings of his and he had dragged Patton, Logan and Roman into it too. Virgil had thought that friendship would be enough to vanquish the dark thoughts.

After all, it had for a little while.

He had let himself laugh and let go of the worries for once and it had been possible. But now they were back again. They weren’t conquered. Virgil had just managed to bury them deep enough that it had taken time to resurface.

Trapping the storm in the orb was not a solution. A new storm was brewing up again and Virgil didn’t know how to handle it.

He came to a pause as he encountered a massive cluster of rocks that blocked him from following alongside the ocean anymore. He turned to the water.

With one swift movement of his left arm, he sent the water shooting away and creating a dry path along the seafloor.

It hadn’t worked last time he had tried to end it.

He had felt the water in his lungs almost immediately after he let it go. Instinctively, his magic had pushed the water out of his system and made him float safely to the surface. The waves had even guided him back to shore without Virgil recalling that he meant to do that.

As he stared at the path he had created, he knew that didn’t want to die.

If he died now, Patton would be devastated; Logan would hurt too, even if he might lie about it, and Roman would probably miss their quick banter and maybe even him.

“That’s pretty cool.”

Speak of the sun.

Roman walked up to stand beside Virgil. He was always so bright. So untouchable. Virgil wouldn’t have dared to try.

“Is it difficult to hold so much water?” Roman asked.

“No,” Virgil said slowly. “It’s as easy as breathing.”

With his next exhale, Virgil let his hold drop and the water came clashing from each side and met rather violently. To think that he had once been standing between two water walls like that made him suddenly shudder.

He felt a coat around his shoulders before he could protest.

“You’re insane for just going out in a hoodie, you know? It’s freezing.”

Virgil still didn’t turn his head or even his eyes to look at Roman.

“Why are you here?”

“Patton was worried.”

“Of course. But why you?”

“I had to get out of a boring meeting,” Roman said nonchalantly and Virgil heard shuffling that sounded like the fire elemental had sat down on the sand.

“At least you’re honest.”

“I’m always honest with you, Virgil. I try to be honest with everyone but especially with the people that I care about, which includes you if you need reminding.”

★★★★

Roman felt compelled to tell Virgil. He wasn’t sure that the water elemental knew that sometimes.

Virgil was troubled.

Roman hated it.

Not because he hated Virgil, far from it in fact. He hated it because of those troubles would make Virgil feel. He never wanted anything or anyone to make him feel down.

“What’s on your mind, thundercloud?” Roman asked, tacking on the personal nickname.

“Why do you call me that?” Virgil asked.

“Thundercloud?” Roman asked for clarification and got a nod and a side-glance, which was the first time Virgil had even looked in his direction since he arrived. “It reminds me of you, I guess.”

“Because of the destructive thundercloud I created?” Virgil asked and he sounded furious.

Roman always said the wrong thing. He had told Logan that. He had been here for mere minutes and he had already screwed up.

“No, Virgil. It’s not like that. I don’t see you as a force of destruction. Anymore. I know I did a bit there at first when we found out about the storm but I thought we moved past that. Aren’t we friends now?”

Virgil didn’t answer. He just kept staring back out at the ocean. Roman knew he had to attempt to make it better and just hope that he wasn’t putting his foot in his mouth yet again.

“I don’t think ill of you, Virgil. I have seen how strong you are and how much you did to protect us. You didn’t mean to make the storm. I know it was an accident. It could have been a fire from me too, you know? I know you must have had trouble with your parents to end up at the street so young, right? And I get that.”

Virgil let out a dry laugh. “I was chased out of the village by my own parents and punished for something that I couldn’t even understand was wrong yet! Moving water felt as easy as breathing, Roman, and I were just a kid. We’re not the same. You’re the crown prince! Your parents are the King and Queen and they literally just agreed to the whole land’s opinion of magic for you!”

Now it was Roman’s time to laugh and he jumped to his feet too and he shoved Virgil’s shoulder and forced the water elemental to face him properly.

“They might be doing that but it’s not that simple. When I was a kid and started playing with the little flame above candlelight and my mother saw, she started crying, Virgil! I had to promise them that I would never use my abilities when there was anyone else around. I promised in blood and I broke that promise. They were happy for me to disappear for a week to relax with you guys because it meant I was out of sight. Now that I’m back I have been stuffed in old boring meetings where no one will see the freak elemental crown prince. Oh, and heavens forbid that everyone find out that I’m gay on top of that.”

Virgil looked taken aback and confused.

“Roman?”

“What!?” he shouted.

“Your palms are on fire.”

Roman looked down at his fists and they were engulfed in fire. As soon as he realized that he had done it without meaning to, he started to panic, which caused the fire to lick further up his arm.

Virgil saw his panic and instantly called a huge orb of water over to encase Roman’s hands. But it didn’t make the fire go out as it just burned within the water.

Damn magical fire.

Roman’s hands hurt.

“Here,” Virgil said and moved his hands forward, open palmed and inviting.

“Virgil, dear, my hands are burning and it hurts! I don’t want to burn you too.”

Virgil rolled his eyes at Roman’s attempt at being nice and he reached forward and just grabbed hold of both of Roman’s hands. The water now covered both of their hands but the fire was still coming out of Roman’s palms and he didn’t know how the hell to stop it.

He had always had trouble controlling his fire when he lost his temper or when his emotions were running high. When both of those things happened at the same time, it was a recipe for disaster.

“You know the thundercloud in the orb?” Virgil asked and Roman had no idea how he could speak so calmly unless it didn’t feel like his skin was burning too.

“What about it?” Roman replied through clenched teeth and forced himself to look away from the weird creation that was their hands and into Virgil’s eyes.

“I’m scared I’ll make another one. Or I’m scared that I’m just the constant cloud, ready to unleash at a moment’s notice.”

“Tom said you’d feel more stable with us around,” Roman stated with a frown.

The smallest smile crept up on Virgil’s lips, just one corner of his mouth turning up but Roman watched as mesmerized.

“It does. But I’m still me, you know? You guys are great but I don’t think you can magically fix me like I wanted you to. I was an anxious child before I discovered my abilities. I don’t think it’s possible to just bottle everything up and pretend that it fixes everything.”

“But it did stop the storm.”

“It did but I can still create another, Roman, if I wanted to, or if I lost control again. You’re right that it could have been your fire too. We established that we are all capable of doing it but because of my personality and my mental health, I’m the most unstable of us.”

“Virgil, we want to do everything to help you. You know that, right? You don’t have to come here and talk to the ocean or whatever you did. You scared Patton or he wouldn’t have sent a message to Logan and me. You can talk to us now, when things get rough. You know that, right?” Roman said.

“I don’t know how to let people in,” Virgil confessed in a whisper.

“You’ll get better at it, Virgil. We will get better at it together. I’m not going anywhere. I can’t promise you much but I can promise you that. Look at me. I always say the wrong thing but you haven’t left my dumb ass yet.”

“Roman, look down,” Virgil said and cast his eyes down at their hands.

Roman had been so caught up in reassuring Virgil that he had forgotten about his burning hands. He looked down, just as Virgil let the water drain off and there was no fire in Roman’s palms anymore. Nor were there any burns, even if it had felt like it.

“Oh,” he said softly and he turned his hands around like he couldn’t really believe what he was seeing.

“Is it true about your parents?” Virgil asked carefully.

“Yes,” Roman confirmed. “But it doesn’t matter. They tried to do something similar when people found out I was gay and I didn’t let anything stop me then. I’m not going to let anything stop me now. I will be King one day and I will be great at it. I will be a gay fire elemental King like they have never seen before. Things are going to work out.”

“How do you know that?”

“Dreams are meant to be pursued, Virgil. I want to find acceptance for my magical abilities and I will work hard to make it happen. I already have the support of you, Patton and Logan. I want to be King and I will make sure that my qualifications will ensure no one can take that away from me. I want to find someone to share my life with and I will never stop trying until I secure him.”

“I don’t think I could ever think like that.”

“Then it’s a good thing that you have me around to help you,” Roman said and winked exaggeratedly, which made Virgil roll his eyes and then cast them down. “And then you can help me stop from spontaneously combusting.”

“Yeah,” Virgil said hesitantly and then glanced back out at the ocean again. “Do you know why I came here?”

“To be near a lot of water?” Roman guessed.

“Partly but mostly I just wanted to get away from my own downward thought spiral.”

“How can you do that by being alone with even more time to think?”

“I can’t. That’s the problem,” Virgil said. “I have so many unhealthy coping mechanisms. That thunderstorm in the orb can be replicated if I stick to my old ways. I have to work to find better ways to cope.”

“Are you trying to say that I helped? If so you are taking forever but I will gladly accept the thank you,” Roman said.

“You’re insufferable,” Virgil mumbled as he put his hand up to his forehead and frowned but his voice was surprisingly soft and gentle.

“But I was right, wasn’t I?” Roman asked excitedly. “I would be happy to be your healthy coping mechanism.”

“Just shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been eight months since I finished the original story and I just couldn't leave this universe entirely. I liked how it was wrapped up with them enjoying a nice Christmas together but as some of the comments also pointed out, it seemed a little too easy for them. I also know that some of you missed the romance aspect and while I did enjoy working with them platonically in the first story, I did start dropping hints at who might pair up in the future. And now here we are. The first chapter here was obviously the angst prinxiety, next we will have angsty logicality and then a fluff for each of them to end on a good note. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and as always feedback is appreciated.
> 
> I am currently Posting Every Day In August (PEDIA), so check out my profile or tumblr [@secretlywritingstories](http://secretlywritingstories.tumblr.com) and [@natigail](http://natigail.tumblr.com/) for more. I just started posting [a new chaptered theatre Sanders Sides AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15578019) last Sunday, if that could have any interest. 
> 
> Next update will be a week from now, on the 14th of August, hopefully around 8 PM CET.


	2. Hurricane and Earthquake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton was worried about Virgil running off to the ocean and Logan was concerned if Roman would be able to handle the situation. But the air and the earth elementals have struggles of their own as well. Patton is falling in love but he isn't sure if he can hand over his heart after having had it broken before. Logan has stopped using his abilities and the dull pain is back in his joints, which he isn't concerned about, until he learns that Patton worries about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: possibly internalised homophobia (i'm not sure it would be classified as such but just to be sure)

Patton was worried.

It happened more often than someone would think because he was usually smiling and almost exuding happiness but that did not mean that he didn’t worry.

He worried about his friends being okay a lot. He wanted nothing more than for all the kind and lovely people in his life to be okay.

Even if he knew they wouldn’t always be okay. It was part of life to feel the downs too.

That’s why he tried to keep smiling all the time to help ease their pain a little.

It had never been difficult for Patton to get friends and he had so many scattered throughout the town but in the past couple of weeks he had found three, well four if you counted Tom, very special friends.

He had never quite felt as connected to someone as he did Virgil, Logan and Roman.

Once he had met each of them, he had just instantly known that this would be something very special.

It made perfect sense to Patton that they were sides of a whole that could slot together and be the best they could ever be when they were by each other’s side. When they had worked together or just when the four of them hung out together, Patton had never quite felt so at peace in his heart.

He had found his home with these people. He just knew it.

Patton hadn’t anticipated that because he cared so deeply for these three individuals, no matter how briefly he might have physically known them, he would worry about them in tenfold compared to his other friends.

That was a lot of worrying and Patton almost wasn’t sure if he could handle it.

After New Years, Logan and Roman had returned to their jobs at the castle and Patton hated that they were separated for so many hours a day.

It felt wrong after having lived in each other’s spaces for such a long time.

It broke the sense of calm.

Patton knew that Virgil felt it too. He was becoming more and more restless as he spent time on his own.

Patton would either drag him down to help out with the dogs or he would at the very least send Patch up to the apartment to keep Virgil company so he wasn’t quite so alone.

He had been alone for so many years of his life already and Patton had made it his mission to make sure that he never felt alone or abandoned ever again.

He had also vowed to make sure that Roman knew he was loved and appreciated for just the man who he was.

Lastly, he had promised himself that he would help show Logan that it was okay to use your abilities and be yourself openly.

As the four of them had spent a week just hanging out in Patton’s home, he had felt like he was on the road to achieve all that. He just wanted to show his friends that things would be okay.

He would never leave any of them.

He would always believe in them.

And he would always support them.

It was such simple things when it was broken down to the basics but Patton knew that it was important.

It was the reason he suddenly became very worried when Virgil came rushing down the stairs without Patch in tow. He would normally never leave the dog alone and he must have shut the door to the apartment because Patton knew that the dog would have followed otherwise.

Patton was talking to a girl who was looking at dogs to adopt but he had to excuse himself and go out after Virgil.

He had hardly caught a glimpse of him as he had tumbled down the stairs and out the door just wearing that hoodie of his. If he wasn’t okay, then Patton was ready to be here for him.

But Virgil didn’t want to speak to anyone.

Patton could feel it coming off him in waves. He wanted to be alone.

Maybe going off to use his elemental powers wasn’t such a bad idea. It always served to calm Patton down.

He made Virgil promise to be careful.

But Patton still didn’t like the idea of Virgil going out to the ocean.

The waves of emotions that had emitted from him as he had said those words had been nothing good. Patton was seriously worried and he half-wanted to chase after Virgil but he knew that wouldn’t do any good.

He knew that Virgil loved him but he also knew that Virgil still thought that Patton was an innocent bean that would need to be protected from all the bad things.

Patton appreciated the sentiment. He wasn’t sure how to tell Virgil that it went both ways.

But Virgil’s past was dark, maybe darker than even Patton had been able to pick up on yet, and he needed a voice of reason or a voice of optimism. He needed Logan or Roman.

Patton hesitantly watched Virgil leave but he rushed back into the shop and quickly wrote out a message for Roman and Logan, as he continued to talk to the sweet girl who was picking out a dog. Once he had her safely out of the shop with her new dog in her arms, he sent the letter flying off on a breeze.

He knew the path to the castle well enough to guide it. If he dropped it at the drawbridge, then a guard would probably pick it up and get it into the right hands so that it could find its way to Roman or Logan, or ideally both.

As he moved the air, Patton felt the feeling of happiness spread out through his arms. Using his magic had always felt exciting and good and he had never been able to hide it very well.

Talyn had been in his employment about a week before they found out that he was able to wield wind. Patton knew at that point that Talyn was a dependable person but he knew he would probably have slipped up around someone else as well.

It just happened to him so naturally.

Perhaps he had been lucky that his ability would be the easiest of the four to explain off like an accident. Oh, the wind just picked up. It surely wasn’t magic doing that.

Cough…

Patton’s parents had worried about him being exposed at first but they had never told him to hide his abilities. Once he had explained how right it felt to use them, they had just told him to be careful where he did it and whom he showed and he had tried his best.

He loved his parents so much. He would have to make the journey to see them soon. Now he supposed that he could just fly there without worrying about being seen since magic was in the process of being made lawful again.

Patton picked up a handful of the balls in the playpen with his elemental powers and tossed them in opposite directions. The dogs happily chased after them.

He always liked to play with the dogs like this. They would never tell on him and he enjoyed that he was able to literally play with dozen of dogs at a time, playing fetch, tug of war or something else.

Moving the air around felt as easy as breathing for Patton. It was like an extension of his body. He could never imagine not doing this or having to suppress it entirely.

Anew his heart ached for his fellow Sides of Saint Sanders. Each of them had at one point or another repressed their abilities.

Virgil had to when he was a kid on his own and depending on adults to take him in.

Roman had made a deal with his parents to keep it secret and never use it.

Logan had never told anyone about it and denied himself it until the urge became overwhelming.

Patton thought that maybe he worried about Logan the most. How could he have tortured himself like that for years?

★★★★

After receiving the message from Patton and sending Roman off to Virgil’s aid, Logan hadn’t been able to focus properly at the meeting. It was less than ideal.

He needed to remember this.

Roman might just have deemed the placement of crops boring and unimportant but the whole town depended on getting a good harvest and to do that you needed to ensure the optimal location and timing of the different crops.

On top of being worried about Virgil running off to play around with the ocean and how Roman would handle the confrontation, Logan also felt the dull pain in his joints.

It had been weeks since he had felt it and he had almost forgotten that he used to feel like that much more frequently.

But over the week of essentially living at Patton’s and the week before that when they were travelling and battling monsters, Logan had used his abilities regularly.

He had been back at the job for two days and it dawned on him that he hadn’t used his abilities since then.

It hadn’t occurred to him until now that he felt the dull ache.

Before Patton and Virgil had come stumbling into his office, it had been his life. He would go through the week with the pain growing more and more intense until he finally relented on the weekend and he went to go out into the forest where he could move earth until it stopped hurting.

“Do you think that’s all we need to discuss, advisor?” the man holding the presentation asked Logan.

He hadn’t been paying attention for the last couple of minutes but he nodded anyway and closed the meeting. He would just have to read over his notes later and hope that he had gotten the most important parts.

He was willing to agree with Roman that the speaker wasn’t particularly thrilling to listen to and he droned on more than necessary.

Logan found himself back in the office he shared with Joan and Joan instantly picked up on the fact that he wasn’t feeling well.

“You okay there, bud?” they asked.

“I’m fine,” Logan said and flexed his hand.

It wasn’t the same as when he focused on moving earth particles but it helped a little with the tension.

“Do I need to get you a plant pot or something?”

“Huh?”

“You’re like phantom earth bending or something. And you look distracted. There’s not a lot of things that can distract you,” Joan said.

“Patton sent a letter saying that Virgil wasn’t dong well and someone needed check on him. I sent Roman. Who knows what disaster that’ll ensure,” Logan mumbled and started fiddling with his glasses.

“Roman and Virgil like each other,” Joan plainly stated and Logan didn’t have the energy to ask what he meant by that. “Logan, seriously. Take the rest of the day off and go move some earth. Patton pulled me aside at New Years and made me promise to tell you not to limit your abilities again. I’m serious about fetching a plant pot if you need it.”

“Patton told you that? Why would he do that?”

“He worries about you. It’s in his nature. Talyn tells me all the time how he tries to look after them whenever their pain problem flares up. He’s worrying a lot.”

“But he’s always smiling?”

“Logan, smiling isn’t always the same as being happy or unbothered by things. You’re polite in meetings, even when you want to slam someone’s head against the table. Sometimes things can be used to mask other stuff.”

“You think Patton is faking being happy?”

“No,” Joan replied. “He’s a happy guy most of the time, I would guess. I just think he might not be as happy as he wants people to think. You know?”

Logan hadn’t considered it. He could pick up on general and intense thoughts when he paid attention to it but he wasn’t an emotions guy. He wasn’t even sure that he understood his own emotions half the time.

He certainly didn’t understand the emotions he felt when he thought about Roman or Virgil or in particular Patton. He had never felt anything like that connection.

It was foreign and scary.

He wasn’t sure how to handle emotional crises. They usually defied logic, which was his thing.

He could come up with logical solutions.

He was practical but he wasn’t someone who could help with matters of the heart.

He still couldn’t quite figure out what it meant when Patton kept kissing his cheek. Logan had thought to ask but he always backed out last minute.

He worried that if he brought it up, Patton might stop. He didn’t want that.

For reasons Logan couldn’t quite define, he quite liked the feel of Patton’s soft lips on his cheekbone, cheek or one time on his nose. Patton didn’t do it to Virgil and Roman, so it made Logan feel like they had something special.

He was terrified of approaching what that might be.

Feelings scared him and he knew he would end up doing the wrong thing and he wouldn’t risk losing Patton for anything. He would just follow Patton’s lead because emotions were his thing.

But it scared him to know that Patton might sometimes put on a fake smile and the fact that Logan would probably entirely miss it. He wouldn’t be able to tell if something was wrong because he wasn’t attuned to emotions.

He had just assumed that Patton would say if something was wrong.

If he came to Logan with a problem, then he would do his utmost to solve it.

Did Patton even know that?

Did he know how much Logan did care for him, even if he couldn’t explain or understand the feelings?

“Joan… I think I might take the rest of the day off.”

“I figured. I’ve got it covered, Logan. Go move earth, right?”

“I need to see Patton first,” Logan said and quickly tidied his notes before he left the office.

★★★★

Patton kept playing with the dogs until they tired out. Once they grew bored or tired of the extended playtime, he found himself with a lot of nervous energy.

“What are you saying, old pal?” he asked Patch who had sat down obediently next to him.

Now the dog moved to place his head in Patton’s lap. He was a very good dog.

“Should I go find Virgil?”

At Virgil’s name, Patch raised his ears and it was so adorable. The two of them had really bonded this past week and Patton knew that Patch must be worried for Virgil just leaving so abruptly.

Patton was worried too.

When the bell on his door chimed and announced that someone had entered the shop, Patton practically jumped up from his seat and ran out front.

He had hoped that it might be Virgil returning but instead Logan was standing in front of him.

“Hi Patton,” he said and his lips tilted lightly up to the small smile that was all he would ever give as a show of warmth.

Thankfully, Patton didn’t have any trouble with showing affection and he threw himself into Logan’s arms and hugged him tight.

Logan made him feel centered and balanced.

He could always count on Logan to make things better.

He loved him so very much.

“I sent Roman to talk to Virgil,” Logan told him as the hug lingered. “I’m sure he will do adequately.”

“No, Logan, he will do good. He’s a good guy. Virgil respects him, even if he would probably never admit it. But thank you for trying to reassure me,” Patton said and he leaned in to place a brief kiss on Logan’s cheek before he pulled away.

He could tell that reassurance had been Logan’s intention, even if it didn’t quite come across in his words. He could read it in Logan’s emotional state.

But that wasn’t everything.

Logan was upset about something. He felt very tense to hug.

Normally, if Patton wrapped his arms around Logan in a hug, he would normally melt into the touch and let go. Patton loved that about their embraces because he could feel Logan give up some of his strict posture and just indulge for a little while.

“If Roman and Virgil have found each other then they’ll be fine. But what about you, Logan?”

“Me?” Logan asked confused.

“You don’t seem quite okay,” Patton stated carefully. “Did you remember to use your ability today?”

Guilt radiated out from Logan and Patton instantly knew that he hadn’t.

“Well, that’s why you’re feeling so tense then!” Patton exclaimed and grabbed hold of Logan’s hand and dragged him out into the garden.

The snow had mostly melted since Christmas but you could still see a light dusting of it around in small patches. As Patton watched his back garden, he recalled how the four of them, with Tom watching, had played around in the snow on Christmas Day.

Things had seemed so easy then.

Everyone was laughing and letting go of their worries.

But it had just been a reprieve from their normal lives and clearly Patton’s friends were still dealing with struggles.

He couldn’t wave a wand and make their hardships disappear, even if he desperately wanted that ability.

It would have to be done the hard way and fought every step of the way.

Patton knew about overcoming emotional struggles. It had taken a lot for him to leave his parents’ loving arms behind but he couldn’t have stayed in his hometown after he had his heart broken.

He had to physically move across the land and find a purpose here with his dogs. It had worked but there had always been missing a little something.

Patton now knew that it was his fellow elementals but perhaps Logan in particular.

It was no secret that Patton was quick to proclaim his admiration and love for someone, even if he just met them but it was starting to grow deeper with Logan. Patton knew that it might turn into something else.

But he wasn’t sure if Logan would want that. He seemed to like the cheek kisses that Patton had experimented with but he didn’t know if Logan would want to be involved romantically.

And Patton wasn’t sure if he could stand having his heart broken again.

“Here you go,” Patton said and swept his arm across like he was presenting the earth in the back garden. “All the earth you could want.”

“I’m really okay, Patton. I don’t need to do it,” Logan claimed.

But he was lying to himself.

It broke Patton’s heart, especially because he wasn’t sure if Logan was aware of it.

“Of course, you need it,” Patton said, interlocked his fingers with Logan’s and made the two of them float off the ground.

Logan wobbled a bit back and forth trying to maintain his balance and he held onto Patton’s hand tightly.

“See? It’s nice,” Patton said.

“Maybe so,” Logan said and reached up to adjust his glasses with his free hand. “But it’s an inconvenience and I usually last at least five days without it.”

Patton was so startled that he dropped the two of them back to the ground without any warning.

He started stumbling and falling but Logan had faster reflexes and he quickly managed to steady Patton by grabbing his waist.

They ended up in an almost dance like position with Patton head and chest tipped back and staring up at Logan who had both his hands around Patton’s waist and pulled tight. Patton’s hands rested on Logan’s chest and he could feel the rapid heartbeat.

Patton so desperately wanted to lean up and kiss him but he wasn’t sure if he was ready.

He wasn’t sure if he was capable of giving his heart again fully. Logan wasn’t his ex and Patton seriously doubted that he would ever hurt him but heartbreak had almost crushed him last time.

It was easier to just befriend people and to be in their life as a loyal and best friend. It wasn’t the same depth of a connection that Patton craved but it served as enough. He wasn’t sure what Logan wanted.

★★★★

Patton was in his arms.

He was holding Patton in his arms.

Logan felt like his brain was backfiring and he was just standing frozen with a beautiful man in his arms.

Patton looked soft and full of love and emotions.

Logan was terrified of doing anything wrong. Patton was so sensitive to everything and Logan knew that he came across as rude and cynical often. He never wanted any of his stilted words to hurt Patton but the reality was that they would.

He would hurt the pure hearted man in his arms without meaning to.

He couldn’t let that happen.

Even if he did want to lean down and close the distance between them, which was another emotional impulse that terrified Logan.

He knew he was gay but he had never been much interested in pursuing romantic relationships. He always felt like they were more trouble that they were worth.

And relationships meant talking about feelings.

Logan wasn’t sure he was computing emotions like everyone else because they made no sense to him. They had never made sense to him.

Until Patton.

Patton had come stumbling into his life two weeks ago and turned everything upside down. He had made Logan feel things that he never thought he would be capable of feeling.

But he couldn’t act on those feelings because he would hurt Patton.

“Sorry,” Logan said when he finally managed to shut off his internal thought spiral. He moved Patton into an upright position and removed his hands.

“I’m the one who should be saying sorry! I didn’t mean to drop us like that, I swear! I was just shocked, though I can hardly recall what it was before… wait! You said that you went five days without using your abilities! Logan! You can’t do that. It’s very bad for you.”

“Patton, we don’t know the physical parameters of our abilities. It has never made them diminish previously, unfortunately, so I doubt that it’s a health risk.”

“Unfortunately?” Patton asked shocked. “It’s not unfortunate! You should be proud of your abilities, Logan. They’re a part of you.”

“They’re nothing to be proud of, Patton. I didn’t do anything to earn them. I was just born like this. I’m not proud of my sexuality either. That’s also just a part of me. I’m proud of my degree. I’m proud of my work as a royal advisor. I’m proud of cultivating my brain and continuing to learn.”

Patton had suddenly gone very still and Logan turned his head away because he didn’t want to look at the dejected expression on Patton’s face. He made it a mission to never read people’s thoughts without their consent but some times someone was just thinking something so strongly that Logan accidentally picked up on it.

Patton thought Logan was wrong.

“Your magic and your sexuality are things to be proud of, Logan. Both have been oppressed in the past. Now you’re free to live openly. You might not have worked hard to have them in the first place, because you’re right that you were just born like that but that doesn’t mean you have to be indifferent or ashamed of them. Think of the people before you that championed for our homosexuality to be legal and the fact that we can show young kids growing up that it’s normal and okay, even if it isn’t the majority. And for your magic, you actually did do the championing! You are a huge part of why the laws on magic are going to be reserved. _That_ is something to be proud of.”

Logan sighed.

“Maybe… but it doesn’t feel like that, Patton.”

Look at him now. Feel? He scrunched up his nose.

“Logan, please don’t be so hard on yourself,” Patton almost begged.

As he spoke the wind around them started to pick up.

“Patton, are you okay?” Logan asked worriedly.

“You’re ashamed of who you are, Logan, and it breaks my heart. I have been told that I was worthless, a freak and I’ve been told to hide who I was and you’re doing that to _yourself_. Logan, please don’t do that to yourself.”

“Patton, you need to calm down,” Logan said as the wind were picking up more and more.

“I need to you to know how loved and valued you are, Logan. _All_ _of you_. Every part of you that makes you the great Logan that you are today.”

“I know, Patton,” Logan said to attempt to placate him. “You tell me all the time.”

“But you’re not listening, are you? I know you don’t mean to do it but the fact that you won’t even acknowledge that you’re torturing yourself means that you can’t start to make it better.”

“I don’t torture myself,” Logan stated.

He didn’t. He was logical about things. He would be unable to torture himself. He just disliked his ability and he couldn’t be proud of it like Patton was. It was nothing more than that.

It was just the way he had been born.

Logan had been analyzing Patton to attempt to find a way to calm him before he might launch a full hurricane or something but that meant that some of his words had taken a little longer to register.

Someone had hurt Patton? Called him a freak? Worthless? And told him to hide who he was?

How would anyone even dare to say that to goodhearted Patton?

Logan didn’t know how to calm emotional turmoil but he did know how to shelter Patton and himself from the winds that were growing stronger each passing moment.

Even if it meant giving into the dull ache and use his elemental powers.

He would always do it for Patton.

Moving the earth felt natural and good. Logan usually hated that he got that release but right now he chose to embrace it. He was moving a lot of earth and it made the ground under their feet shake.

He trapped himself and Patton inside of an earth cave not unlike he had done when Virgil had been going off before.

He wouldn’t let Patton hurt himself.

He would protect Patton from anyone, even himself.

Maybe…

Maybe that was what Patton was trying to do for him too? If he really thought that Logan was hurting himself by oppressing his ability then he might try to make him use it to make the hurt stop.

Did that mean that Patton felt like Logan did? Or would Patton have done it for anyone?

As Patton was encased in the small space with Logan, he dropped his arms at his sides, when he became aware of the air he was swirling around.

“I’m sorry,” he sobbed and then he was back in Logan’s arms.

Logan hugged back this time and he let the earth walls around them move down gently.

“It’s okay, Patton.”

“I just don’t want you to hurt yourself, Logan. You know I love you.”

“I love you too,” Logan replied.

The words hadn’t been planned. Logan knew that there was still a chance that Patton simply meant that he loved him as his friend – after all they had only known each other for a handful of minutes when Patton had first declared that he loved Logan.

The words felt heavy in Logan’s mouth because he didn’t throw them around like Patton did.

Patton pulled back his face just slightly to watch Logan’s expression. He must be able to read something in Logan’s emotional state because immediately, Logan felt a thought almost propelled directly at him.

_I really love you._

And then Patton was back in Logan’s embrace, burying his face in Logan’s neck. Logan felt like he couldn’t breathe but not in a bad way.

Patton might throw his love around for the smallest of things but that did not mean that he was careless about it. He just had a whole lot of love to give and he wasn’t afraid to say it unlike Logan. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t serious when he told it to Logan.

The strength of the words thrown into his brain had made him feel the emphasis and almost the emotions.

Feelings weren’t his strong suit but he knew this felt good. The words made him take a deep breath and hold onto Patton a little tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at my two boys! I adore their opposing dynamic so much and poor Logan is so worried about not being able to be there emotionally from Patton, even if that worry and careful approach would make Patton's heart feel warm ten times over if he knew how Logan thought about him. I'm so sorry to have Patton been heartbroken before but it was the reason that he left his small town and moved to the capital instead. He just needed a fresh start. (Roman was born there, Logan went for education and Virgil because it was easier to beg for money - just if you need a refresh). And with this chapter, the angst fest is finally over and the next two chapters will be fluff! Bless the fluff. All the four boys deserve it!
> 
> Next chapter is planned to go up on next Tuesday. And I'm still Posting Every Day In August, and I have another chaptered Sanders Sides AU going up weekly as well, so maybe check that out if you want! Thank you for reading and feedback is always appreciated, even if I haven't found time to reply to comments in a while (I still read and love them so much and I will get back to it when I find the time).


	3. Bloom and Breeze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Patton have just said "I love you" to each other and Logan might still not understand his emotions completely and Patton might still be slightly worried about the possiblity of heartbreak but they care about each other too much to let that get in their way.

Logan wasn’t sure how to categorize all of the emotions in his chest as he held Patton close. He might not have meant to say it out loud but it was undeniably true.

Logan loved Patton.

He loved him despite how different and seemingly incompatible they were or perhaps he loved him partly because of that. They were so different and yet Logan had never felt like he could confide or depend on someone like he felt with Patton.

It was a mix of Logan wanting to take care of Patton and protect him with his whole being but at the same time allowing Patton to wrap his arms around him and say when Logan was being too hard on himself and when he should just accept the love.

Patton was an overflowing well of love and Logan didn’t feel worthy to be a recipient of it. However, he also recognized that it was not his call to make.

No one but Patton could determine who would be showered with love.

And for some, seeming unfathomable reason, Patton was choosing Logan. Out of all the people who was so much better and who could give him so much more, Patton still loved Logan.

Suddenly, Patton was cooing and stare at the ground and Logan was too focused on watching the adorable glee on Patton’s face. It was almost magic how his cheeks expanded and got slightly pinker. He got the most adorable eye crinkles and his eyes seemed to sparkle. He was utterly beautiful.

“Logan, see!” Patton exclaimed and tugged on Logan’s sleeve.

It was really a shame to diverge his eyes from the wonder that was Patton but Logan obeyed and flowers were blooming out from where they stood. It was the most peculiar flowers.

The red tulips rose up from the ground, blossoming faster than should have been scientifically possible and they were only blooming around Patton and Logan’s feet.

As a kid, Logan had read every single book he could get his hands on. His mother had once bought a book with the language of flowers. Logan had thought it a bit ridiculous but knowledge was knowledge even if it was about flowers’ symbolic meaning.

Red tulips meant love. A perfect love. A confession of love.

The flowers kept growing and growing until they were in full bloom and reaching the boys’ knees. Logan didn’t dare move to prevent trampling the flowers. Patton seemed to like them.

“You’re so sweet, making flowers for me,” Patton said and leaned in to press a chaste kiss the Logan’s left cheekbone. The kiss lingered more than the cheek kisses before it and Logan found he enjoyed it.

Because of it, he was a little slow on the uptake regarding Patton’s words.

“Me? What do you mean?”

“You’re the one making flowers bloom,” Patton said and leaned closer and moved his hands around Logan’s neck.

Logan had never considered him much of a tactile person. He didn’t like touch most of the time but it was different when it was Patton offering him the affections. It felt calming and right and Logan felt another swell of emotions.

“I am not using my powers,” Logan said and frowned down at the flowers around them. At the outskirt of their circle more flowers were slowly rising out of the earth.

“I’m pretty sure air can’t make flowers grow. And haven’t you noticed how all my houseplants have been flourishing since you started staying over? Some of them are even growing too big for their pots! And it’s winter. They’ve never had growth spurts like that before.”

Logan hadn’t noticed anything abnormal about Patton’s plants, even if he had seen them when he first entered Patton’s home. The plants were dotted in every little corner. It felt homely in a way no home of Logan’s ever had been.

“But my powers have always just been earth particles. I’ve never made something grow in the earth before,” Logan said and started down at the patch of red tulips surrounding them. They shouldn’t even be able to grow in the hard and frosty ground but he could see them with his own eyes.

“Maybe, it because you’re starting to embrace your elemental power and opening your heart,” Patton said and played a little with the hair at the back of Logan’s neck.

More flowers bloomed around them.

It wasn’t proof but it had happened enough that Logan felt comfortable to propose a hypothesis.

It was Patton.

Patton with his touch, with his smile, with his kiss and with his love. Patton was making his powers react and evolve.

“Do you know what red tulips mean?” Logan asked and made himself put his hands on Patton’s waist. He was soft to the touch and his smile grew even wider.

“No, I only know one thing about tulips but let me hear yours first,” he said cheerfully.

“A lot of flowers have been given a symbolic meaning. I don’t quite know how or why but the call it the language of flowers. And I don’t know if that has anything to do with the type of flowers that I’m evidently growing but it’s is fascinating-“

“Logan,” Patton said and cut him off. “You’re rambling. I love it and I don’t want you to stop but before you could go into the finer details of the flower language, I need to know what red tulips mean. You’ve got me curious!”

Logan carefully moved his thumbs back and forth in the softest caress and Patton looked like he might have purred if he had been a cat.

“Red tulips… they are said to mean love. A confession of love. A perfect love.”

Logan was watching Patton’s reaction carefully and for the briefest moment, he thought that he had ruined everything. Patton looked like he might cry and Logan never wanted to make him cry.

But then, even as his eyes were watery, the brightest smile crept up on his lips and he threw his entire bodyweight into Logan.

Logan hadn’t been prepared but he wrapped his arms tighter around Patton and accepted as he came tumbling down in the patch of flowers. He landed softly, leading him to believe that Patton had created some air resistance to break their fall.

Now Patton was lying on top of him and he was still clinging to Logan like life depended on it. But then he was moving back and it was almost worse because now he had the sun behind him, giving him a halo of light. He had nothing but love in his eyes, so much the emotion seemed to seep out of him and into Logan and Logan couldn’t breathe and it had nothing to do with the fact that someone was on top of him.

He wanted to kiss Patton again. It would probably be a reoccurring feeling. But it was a nice one and it didn’t terrify Logan as much as it did the first time.

He was still scared of hurting Patton by accident but he rarely made mistakes and given the chance for a relationship with Patton he would put in the utmost effort to ensure that Patton remained unharmed. He couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t happen but he could work to prevent it with all his ability.

“You’re beautiful, Patton. Kind. Compassionate. Loving. Trusting. You are all the things I never thought I would be able to possess. But… you make me believe I can become it too. If you stay in my life.”

★★★★

Logan was lying on a bed of flowers and in Patton’s eyes he was everything he was trying to deny about himself. They might not act in any similar manners but that did not mean that Logan was lacking all the things he was praising Patton for.

He was everything and so much more to Patton. Patton wasn’t sure how to tell him that. He wasn’t always good at speaking as eloquently as Logan. Words came out of his mouth in a tumble when he was excited and he was always making dumb jokes.

But Logan knew that and he loved him either way.

Logan would never think that his ability was ugly. He would never think that he was dumb, despite being less intelligent. He would never judge Patton or try to change him into something else.

Patton could feel the strong emotions coming off of Logan. Patton had known that he was loved before and he had felt those emotions as well but it was different with Logan. Mostly, Logan’s emotions were kept under lock and Patton could only read him vaguely.

Now it was like he was inviting him in and showing Patton how he really felt. Patton wanted to lean down and kiss his two perfect lips but he wasn’t sure how to do it. Logan had responded with warmth to every touch or affection from Patton but he was still a bit hesitant and stilted with his own movements.

It was adorably cute and it just served even further to show Patton that Logan would never break his heart. He would treasure it and hold it like it was precious and something to be protected. Just like Patton would do with Logan’s if he was willing to hand it over.

Patton didn’t want to outright ask, so he tried a different approach. Everybody loved a good pun. Even Logan, who pretended to hate them, could both dish out a good one and he was always secretly smiling whenever Patton made jokes.

“Hey Logan?”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to know what I know about tulips?” Patton asked and tried to look as innocent as possible.

Logan squinted just slightly, almost not noticeable if they hadn’t been this close and Patton was still lying on top of the earth elemental. Patton was probably not coming off as innocently as he tried to be.

As Patton got a little more nervous to produce the punchline, the wind around them started picking up a little. It was just a gentle breeze but it made the still standing tulips around them sway rather beautifully.

“Please do enlighten me,” Logan said after a brief pause, probably deciding that it couldn’t be harmful to play along.

“I want your two-lips on mine,” he said.

Logan’s mouth fell open just slightly in surprise and his eyes widened. Patton was wondering if he had made a mistake and pushed Logan to where he wasn’t comfortable but then Logan’s hand came up to cradle the back of Patton’s head and he brought them closer.

Patton’s heart was singing.

He could feel every nerve in his body as his lips touched Logan’s. Logan’s emotions and Patton’s own were swirling together and he had never felt so much happiness at once.

Without meaning to, they were suddenly floating up in the air. Logan broke the kiss, for a little moment to wrap his arms properly around Patton but he didn’t complain about being suspended in mid-air.

Patton pulled back just a little, and his heart skipped at how Logan chased his lips, just lightly.

“I’m sorry we’re floating.”

“Don’t be,” Logan said and reached up to caress Patton’s cheek and he was so careful and tender and Patton might start crying happy tears again. “I like floating with you.”

“You’re not scared I’ll make you fall?” Patton asked in a whisper.

“No, I already fell for you once and I’m not hurt,” Logan said with a glint in his eyes that told Patton that he knew exactly how he would react to such a pun.

He surged right back in to kiss Logan again and somehow he got them spun around as well, so they were vertical again, even as their feet stayed off the ground.

Gently, Patton could feel the earth, still covered in the red tulips rising up to meet their feet. He opened his eyes and looked into Logan’s.

Both of them was breathing heavily, even if their kisses had been nothing but gentle and sweet. Patton’s heart was beating insanely fast because he couldn’t believe this was happening. He couldn’t believe that Logan, wonderful and clever Logan, was actually kissing him.

When he ran away from home to escape heartbreak, he thought that he would never allow himself to fall in love again. He had determined to be satisfied with platonic love, which had always been so important to him anyway.

But as he watched how Logan looked at him, he knew he had been missing something. He hadn’t just been missing his fellow elementals to keep his powers in check or to become whole. He had been missing a partner.

Someone to rely on. Someone to cherish. Someone to share his life with.

“I can’t believe you used a pun to start our first kiss,” Logan said, exasperated and yet fond.

“Nothing wrong with a good pun, Logan.”

“I suppose not,” Logan said and reached for Patton’s hand tentatively.

Patton immediately interlocked their fingers and then brought them up to his mouth to plant a soft kiss on Logan’s knuckles. His hand was soft and it fit perfectly in Patton’s.

“I love you,” Patton said again because it could never be said enough, especially not to Logan who seemed to think that he didn’t deserve it. “And can you promise me something?”

Logan hesitated for a beat but then relented. “Yes.”

“Don’t refrain from using your powers? They are beautiful and a wonderful part of you.”

As Patton finished speaking, a small patch of earth next to them rose up to a tip, stopping at the height of their torsos. A flower started growing out of the ground and in a matter of seconds, a singular and beautiful daisy was staring back at Patton.

He just watched in awe.

“What does the daisy mean?” Patton asked.

“Like many other flowers, it has numerous meanings but I mean it to represent loyal love. I don’t know how to do any of this, Patton. But I love you and I will be with you every step of the way. I will try my best to make you happy and while I fear I might hurt you by accident, I will do my hardest to prevent it.”

The happy tears were back in Patton’s eyes and he was squeezing Logan’s hand so hard that it might hurt but he couldn’t stop it.

Logan didn’t know about the horrible heartbreak but he said just the thing that Patton needed to hear anyway. Logan was scared of hurting Patton on accident! How precious was that? Patton was determined not to let it happen either.

He knew it could happen because they were so different but he still felt like they complimented each other in quite the perfect way. Patton could make them soar into the sky, up into the clouds and Logan could bring them down and ground them when it was needed. They were the perfect match.

“Fly with me?” Patton asked.

“How high?”

“All the way,” Patton said joyously.

“You don’t want to fly too close to the sun,” Logan argued.

“And with you, I won’t,” Patton said and leaned into briefly peck Logan’s lips. It was a thing that he could do. Logan liked it. His emotions spiked and escaped his iron control for a minute whenever Patton kissed him.

“I thought I was supposed to live a certain existence, you know?” Logan said. “I never imagined I’d go flying.”

“But?” Patton said and he was smirking because he could hear it was coming.

“But,” Logan said with a fond glance at Patton, “I’m happy to do it. With you.”

The earth and the air elemental were each other’s polar opposites. One ruled the ground and one ruled the sky. Yet, they needed each other to be harmonious. Both elements coexisting created the very world they lived on.

Patton smiled and lifted him and Logan off the ground. As they flew with the gentle breeze, they passed over the treetops and the naked tree branches sprouted flowers just for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spilled water on my computer and it's litterally dead and refusing to start. The insurance company want me to send it to get a repairshop and the damage is covered but it means I'll be without it. I have dug out my old MacBook from 2011, which is horribly slow and a bit unreliable but it's better than nothing. This chapter was actually written at work (where I'm sat in a reception during the afternoon and free to do whatever I please on the computer as long as I make sure to help and engage with people who approach me) and it's nothing like writing on my trusted MacBook Air. I don't know if I'll be able to complete PEDIA without it but at least you can have this chapter on time.
> 
> Was it fluffy enough for you? I hope so! These two are so soft and adorable and I love them. Also, the whole metaphor in the quote in the story summary just fit them so damn perfectly. And if you're wondering why this continued with Patton and Logan instead of switching back to Roman and Virgil on the beach, it's becuase they somewhat follow the order of the original story (Virgil, Patton, Logan and Roman). So like this the final chapter will only have one shift and be short and fluffy. I hope you liked this chapter!


	4. Glow and Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Virgil had just shared a tender moment on the beach but it wasn't enough quite yet. They still had more things to say to each other, even if it seemed so unlikely that the two of them could fit together. However, they might be just what the other person needed, fate or no fate.

“Want to sit with me?” Virgil asked.

Roman didn’t need to be asked twice. As he sat down he still looked over his hands. He had felt like the fire was eating into his flesh but they bore no burns at all.

Virgil’s calming palms and water had somehow prevented it.

Roman had burned himself accidentally before. He knew it was one of the reasons that his parents didn’t like him using his ability on top of the other reason.

Fire was dangerous and destructive. Roman had been terrified of it at times when he was younger. What if he had a dream and accidentally lit a fire in his sleep?

He had always thought that fire was the most volatile and difficult element to conquer. However, he now knew that he had severely misjudged water.

When he thought of water, he thought of calm pounds, he thought of the liquid humans needed to survive, he thought of rain falling to water the crops. He didn’t think about tall and crashing waves or storms of inner turmoil.

Water could be a lot of things, Roman had realized after he got to know Virgil. One moment he could be calm and serene and the next he could be thundering.

“I never come out to the water,” Roman said, as he got comfortable on the soft sand next to Virgil. It was far too cold to just be sitting on the sand and Virgil still had Roman’s coat around his shoulders.

But he was a gentleman and he wouldn’t ask for it back.

Beside, he couldn’t help but adore the way Virgil hunched it close around his form. It wasn’t the first time that Roman had allowed someone else to wear his coat with the royal seal but he had never quite felt like this before.

Virgil looked good in Roman’s clothes.

It made something flutter in Roman’s chest. Virgil was quite lovely.

Until he opened his mouth and that quick sharp wit took away his soft edges momentarily.

Roman had been raised to want a damsel in distress. He had been raised to be chivalrous and that he needed to be the man who took care of someone else. He had been raised to never show weakness around anyone and thus he absolutely hated when it happened.

Like when he lost his temper and fire sprouted from his hands.

Most people would have freaked out but Virgil had been calm. He had stayed and he had helped him and Roman allowed his guard to drop even further around the water elemental.

He certainly was no damsel but Roman’s heart still expanded a little when Virgil scuttled closer and leaned his head on Roman’s shoulder.

“Roman, you are not what I expected at all,” Virgil commented.

His tone fell flat and Roman immediately interpreted it as an insult and he was about to protest but Virgil cut him off before he could get a word out. All he managed was offended noises.

“Calm down. I meant it in a good way, you pompous ass,” Virgil said and he snuggled a little closer.

Roman deflated instantly. He had pleasantly surprised Virgil? He hadn’t expected that.

“Well, thank you,” Roman replied. “You’re not quite what I expected either.”

“What you expected serenity?” Virgil questioned with a deep chuckle.

Roman felt a little called out by Virgil’s words and tone but he wasn’t going to let it get to him.

Virgil was being more open with him than ever and it was just the two of them out here on the cold and deserted beach.

It felt like a moment.

Roman desperately wanted it to be a moment.

“Do you ever wonder about the future, Virgil? What you want out of it?”

Virgil tensed a little but he didn’t move away from Roman’s shoulder. Roman wasn’t sure if he should be happy with their touch or he should be annoyed that their position made it impossible for him to read Virgil’s expression.

Patience wasn’t Roman’s strong suit by far but he wanted to try to give Virgil ample time to answer, so he stared out at the waves.

Coming in and going back out.

It was rhythmic and beautiful. The sound was calming.

Roman could understand why Virgil liked it here, regardless of water being his element.

Still, Roman couldn’t help but compare Virgil to the ocean.

Beautiful. Hypnotic. Malleable.

Calm and serene one moment and violent and dangerous the next.

If you asked Roman, he was beautiful either way.

“I don’t know,” Virgil said in a whisper. “I… I didn’t think about the future for so long, Roman. I’m not like you. I don’t have a plan to prove my worth to be King. I used to doubt i-if I would make it through the winter… before you guys came crashing into my life.”

Roman’s heart ached and he risked moving his arm around to hold around Virgil’s shoulders. Virgil tensed but then relaxed and allowed the comforting touch.

“I understand. Sorry for prying,” Roman apologized.

Virgil shrugged and Roman felt it against his body.

“It’s okay. It’s just very different now. I’m still adjusting. I still worry if I’ll explode again.”

“We won’t allow that, Virgil. Just see what happened today. You were upset, or whatever you want to call it, and Patton reacted, Logan reacted and I reacted. We’re here for you, Virgil. I know I can promise it not only for myself but also for the other two. We’re not letting you be robbed of a future, you hear me?”

Roman felt Virgil nodding against his shoulder.

They stayed like that for a little while and they just watched the waves ebb and flow.

Roman wasn’t the best with long silences, so eventually he broke it.

“Do you believe in soulmates?”

“Seriously? That’s where you want the conversation to go now?” Virgil huffed and finally pushed off Roman’s shoulder.

Virgil’s dark eye shadow was smeared around his eyes but he was looking alert and alive and beautiful.

Roman knew that he shouldn’t be asking. Virgil was more practical and cynical about things than Roman had ever been.

Soulmates did not seem like a concept he would be inclined to believe in but Roman couldn’t help but wonder.

He had adventured and searched for his soulmate for a long time. He had never lost hope that he would find that special someone whom he would be able to share the rest of his life with.

Tom had explained to them that Roman’s adventuring likely was a subconscious effort to find his fellow elementals and reunite their powers but what it if was more than that?

What if one of the other three elementals were Roman’s soulmates and that was the reason that he had been searching for them?

And if Roman was being honest with himself, he knew that it could only be one of the elementals. He had already known of and seen Logan a couple of times before they properly met and he had never felt that instantaneous connection. Patton was adorable and lovely and Roman’s heart beat for him but it was only platonic.

It had always been a little different with Virgil.

When Roman had first seen him, lurking in the background and unwilling to speak or participate in the original adventure, he had kept glancing at Virgil.

Virgil was nothing like Roman had dreamed of his soulmate being but perhaps that was a good thing.

You couldn’t always predict what or whom you needed in your life before you had experienced it. It had always been easy to talk to Virgil, even if Roman constantly put his foot in his mouth. They kept talking and Virgil never gave up on him.

He glanced over at Virgil now, with his eyes fixated on the ocean and the waves. He was relaxed and void of tension, which almost never happened to the water elemental. He had dropped his guard around Roman, properly for the first time, and Roman thought the vulnerability made him look lovely.

“So, are you going to answer?” Roman asked again.

★★★★

Soulmates?

Roman must be going insane.

There was no such thing as destiny, fate or soulmates. It was old folktale to get people to accept marriages arranged by their parents, if you were to ask Virgil’s honest opinion.

Or at least, that’s what he would have answered in December before a fey flew up to him and started to talk about purpose, adventure and belonging.

Virgil didn’t want to believe that anyone could be in control of his life. It was a stupid notion if everything had been preplanned. He had gone through too much suffering for that to be a reality. If destiny or fate were real, they were no friends of his.

The idea that you would be destined to be with one person and that your souls somehow matched was utterly ridiculous.

It was ludicrous.

It was impossible.

Those thoughts were running around inside of Virgil’s head as soon as Roman asked but they weren’t the only things in his brain.

He kept seeing the moment that had just passed between him and Roman.

Roman’s hands had been on fire.

Virgil’s water hadn’t put it out.

When Virgil had taken Roman’s hands, he had braced himself for the pain that he could see on Roman’s face but he hadn’t felt a thing. He had just felt warmth where their hands touched, even as they were embraced in cold ocean water.

And Roman was positively glowing.

He seemed positively ablaze with glow.

As soon as the fire had gone away, Virgil had broken Roman out of his rambling speech. He was getting sentimental and vulnerable and Virgil hadn’t known how to react to any of it.

Roman scared him.

He wasn’t scared of his fire hands or capability to do destruction if he so pleased. He was scared that Roman would, somehow, walk right into his heart and then break it. Virgil had never had much time to consider romance in his life.

He had been focused on surviving day to day.

But things were different now.

Roman asked him to answer again but Virgil didn’t know what to say.

Finding his fellow elementals had felt a little like they were supposed to be in each other’s lives. It had felt calming and stabilizing to get to know them, just like Tom had said, but that wasn’t because they had always been supposed to meet, right?

“I don’t know, Roman. It seems a little farfetched,” Virgil said and Roman’s shoulders slumped and Virgil felt guilt coil in his stomach, “but… I didn’t believe magic was real before I discovered that I could move water with my mind and hands. So there’s that.”

Fuck. He…

Roman was just staring at him.

“What do you mean?” Roman asked, clearly confused.

“I…”

I mean that I didn’t believe in magic before I felt it myself.

I mean that I didn’t believe people could be fated to be in your life, until I felt how right it was to meet you, Patton and Logan.

I mean that I didn’t believe that I would ever be able to be romantically involved with anyone until you.

Virgil didn’t know how to say any of it.

“I-I don’t necessarily think soulmates are such a ridiculous notion anymore.”

Roman’s posture changed as he stepped closer. He was looser in his movements and his eyes were bright and sparkling.

Virgil gulped as the crown prince closed the distance between them but he refused to back down.

He had been scared his whole life.

So much still terrified him.

This, with Roman, certainly petrified him.

“No, I take it back, I still think it’s a ridiculous notion,” Virgil countered his earlier statement but this time his words didn’t make Roman falter one bit. “It is bullshit that there’s just one person out there that’ll be perfect for you, you know? Nothing or no one is ever perfect.”

“Agreed,” Roman said with a huge smile.

“What?”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect partner. But it’s not about perfectionism. It’s about finding someone who makes your heart sing; someone you won’t ever tire of talking to; someone who will stick with you through thick and thin and someone who makes you want to be the best person you could be.”

“I don’t think that’s the definition of soulmates,” Virgil commented with a raised eyebrow and wore an expression that made it clear that he was making fun of Roman.

Roman seemed entirely unaffected, which was a shame.

In fact, Roman was closing the already small distance between them even more. Virgil still stubbornly refused to move back and soon Roman was so close that their noses would bump if Virgil moved even a little.

Roman’s hands carefully reached for Virgil’s waist.

Virgil was frozen and scared and unsure about what the hell was going on. His heart was hammering in his chest and if he didn’t know better, he might have thought that he was having a panic attack.

He wasn’t sure if he had ever been this close to another person’s face before. Roman’s eyes looked even prettier up close and he was smiling in a way that made Virgil unable to breathe.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Roman said, carefully, and then added, “please don’t hit or drown me.”

The little extra addition caused Virgil to smile against his better judgment and immediately he felt Roman’s mouth on his.

At the same time, Roman’s hands encircled Virgil’s waist and brought them closer.

The panic that had begun to rise in Virgil’s chest started to subdue.

Roman’s lips felt soft and gentle against Virgil’s, like he was touching something precious and Virgil felt a little choked up about it.

His hands went to Roman’s hair, only partly because he knew that the prince would hate to have his hair messed up. Virgil surged forward and kissed Roman back with all he had.

He appreciated the warning and the gentle and tentative first kiss but he wasn’t a gentle person and neither was Roman.

A fire burned in Roman and at the moment Virgil felt like the thundercloud he had once produced. He felt like he was burning up but kissing Roman helped.

Roman didn’t seem to mind the change of tempo at all, he happily matched Virgil’s intensity and pulled him closer.

Virgil didn’t realize how much he was getting into it until Roman’s hands suddenly disappeared from his back and they broke apart. Virgil was just about to get upset or sad but then he noticed that Roman had stepped back because his hands were on fire again.

As Virgil glanced out at the ocean, he also saw how close the waves had moved to them, just in the little area that they were. The water almost touched their legs.

“Sorry,” Roman muttered.

With a swift move of his hands, water was back around Roman’s palms and Virgil leaned into capture his lips in another kiss.

“Hold up. This doesn’t scare you?” Roman asked and nodded towards his hands, which were still burning encased in the magic water.

“I might be scared of a lot of things. But you, Roman, are not one of them.”

Virgil at least wasn’t scared of his powers like Roman thought he would be.

Roman was laughing now, loud and heartily and it made Virgil want to laugh as well. For now, he just smiled.

“And you don’t believe in soulmates,” Roman said with a shake of his head.

“It is stupid. You’re stupid too. I just… still like kissing you,” Virgil confessed and Roman looked like he was ready to swoon.

“Virgil, please allow me to officially court you,” Roman asked and took Virgil’s hands in his.

It was a stupid idea. Roman was set to be King of the land. Virgil had a feeling that he would not to well as royalty, even by association. It wasn’t practical in the least but it was clear that Roman wasn’t even considering any of that.

He was all wrapped up in his head about his dreams and his ridiculous soulmate theories. He didn’t think about the reality of it at all. He just knew that he wanted to be with Virgil.

That somehow made it all the more adorable, even if Virgil knew he couldn’t let himself get wrapped entirely up in the fantasy.

He had a millions reasons in his head why this wouldn’t work with the two of them but he also felt Roman’s palms against his own and their water and fire impossibly existing together.

The water should have killed the fire.

Virgil was worried that he might extinguish Roman’s glow with his ever crashing waves. Their intertwined hands told a different story and Virgil wanted to allow himself to think about the future.

Both of them were connected to volatile elements. It should have been a recipe for disaster but somehow it wasn’t.

And it felt right. Virgil had never allowed himself to do something because of that reason before but he had changed lately. His fellow elementals had done so much more than stabilize his storm tendencies.

They had given him a home and a hope for the future.

“We’re not calling it that,” Virgil noted at Roman’s choice of words. “But… yeah, let’s try it.”

Roman squealed out of glee and suddenly Virgil found himself in the fire elemental’s arms and being lifted off the ground and then spun around. The shock, Roman’s smile and everything else made Virgil just burst out laughing.

He was laughing like he had never laughed before and Roman followed soon after. They were spinning and laughing and then Roman stumbled and they were rolling around in the soft sand but they never stopped laughing.

Roman’s hands weren’t burning anymore, so Virgil sent the water away but he still took Roman’s hand and held it to his chest.

Fire and water; they should have been mortal enemies and unable to co-exist. But the two elementals were lying in the sand, still chuckling softly with their hands clasped together.

Roman had searched in the wrong places and Virgil had never looked at all. Yet, they had found a sense of kinship in each other and it would only grow stronger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHH! Did you like it? It was so fun to revisit these characters in their magical universe and I'm happy I got to write them getting together and being a little coupley. I know these two had a very different approach to everything than Patton and Logan but they're very different people and this felt more true to Virgil and Roman. I know they didn't confess their love for each other specifically but if you read between the lines, I think it's pretty easy to spot that the love is there - the two idiots just need to build up the courage to confess it but they will. 
> 
> Posting Every Day In August is coming to an end soon and I'm honestly a bit excited because every time I do this I forget how hard it is to post and write on the same day, which always end up being the case no matter how much I try to pre-plan. But it was how this series started as well, so it was fitting that it got a revival and a little sequel. 
> 
> I hope you liked it. I'm currently posting a chaptered Sanders Sides theatre AU with Roman as the protagonist that'll continue for a couple of months. Check my profile for it if you'd like, or follow my writing tumblr @secretlywritingstories to keep up with what I write. Again, just thank you for your lovely words on this story so far (and to anyone who might leave any on this chapter). I'll get around to replying as soon as I find the time and I appreciate every comment so much.


End file.
